News by the HIV Justice Network

This week, the Law Commission – which reviews areas of the law in England and Wales that have become unduly complicated, outdated or unfair –  will conclude its scoping consultation of the reform the Offences Against The Person Act, the…

Spain’s Supreme Court last week upheld a nine-year prison sentence for a man, known as ‘ABM’, who did not disclose his HIV-positive status to his former partner, who is now also living with HIV.  Although the reports do not state under…

The High Court in Kampala has rejected an appeal from Rosemary Namubiru, who was convicted in May 2014 for negligently exposing a child to HIV during a needlestick injury. However, Justice Rugadya Atwooki found that her original three year sentence was excessive…

Last week saw the launch of a new phase of a targeted social marketing campaign by AIDS ACTION NOW! (AAN) that features 42 short videos from members and allies of Toronto’s LGBTQI community. ‘Think Twice’ asks HIV-negative and untested gay,…

Lawmakers in Nepal are considering a draft law that singles out people with HIV and hepatitis B, contrary to recommendations from UNAIDS and the Global Commission on HIV and the Law. According to the draft text, tweeted by IRIN Humanitarian…

The District Court of Oldenburg has sent a 30-year-old female sex worker to prison for at least nine years under Germany’s ‘preventive detention’ law, because she has shown a pattern of not disclosing to clients that she was living with…

Yesterday, the Assize Court of Bouches-du-Rhône in the south of France sentenced  Christophe Morat, aged 40, to twelve years’ imprisonment, after having found him guilty of “administering a harmful substance with intent to cause permanent disability or mental impairment”. There…

Beyond Blame: Challenging HIV Criminalisation A pre-conference meeting for AIDS 2014 In July 2014, at a meeting held to just prior to the International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia around 150 participants from all regions of the world came together…

Last week, Sweden’s Supreme Court announced that it would not grant leave to appeal in a case where the prosecution had appealed an acquittal from Court of Appeal regarding a man living with HIV, on successful antiretroviral therapy, who had…

[Press Statement from the Coalition for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Act] Civil society organisations reacted harshly today to the assent by President Museveni on July 31 2014 to Uganda’s controversial HIV Bill, the HIV Prevention and Control Act of 2014,…

[Press release from Lambda Legal] “We call upon those charged with enforcing such laws—from governors to prosecutors to police detectives—to halt the criminal prosecution and resulting persecution of any individual based on HIV status.” (Washington, D.C. Thursday, July 17, 2014)…

[Press release from the US Department of Justice] JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RELEASES BEST PRACTICES GUIDE TO REFORM HIV-SPECIFIC CRIMINAL LAWS TO ALIGN WITH SCIENTIFICALLY-SUPPORTED FACTORS WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today that it has released a Best Practices Guide to…

In the lead-up to AIDS 2014, ten powerful thought-provoking films from seven countries over three days (18, 19 and 21 July 2014) will outrage Melbourne film-goers by exploring how laws and policies aimed at controlling, punishing or disempowering specific groups…

People living with HIV in Manchester appear to have little understanding of their rights and responsibilities under English law to avoid prosecution for ‘reckless’ HIV transmission, according to a study presented to the British HIV Association Conference in Liverpool earlier…

Last Friday, June 13, the Iowa Supreme Court set aside the ‘HIV exposure’ conviction of Nick Rhoades, who was initially sentenced to 25 years in prison, with required registration as a sex offender, after having a one-time sexual encounter with…

Living Positive Victoria, the organisation representing people living with HIV in the Australian state of Victoria, has launched a campaign for community and cross-party political support to reform the state’s HIV-specific criminal law, the only such law in Australia. Section…

After years of intensive debate and strong local and international advocacy against many of the problematic clauses found within Uganda’s omnibus HIV law, yesterday Uganda’s Parliament passed the HIV Prevention and Control Act virtually unchanged from this 2010 version. The…

Today, the Court of Appeal upheld David Golding’s 2011 conviction for ‘recklessly’ infecting his ex-girfriend with genital herpes (HSV-2) during a brief relationship.  However, his original 14 month sentence was reduced to three months (as time served, Mr Golding was…

More than 70 scientific experts Canada-wide have today released a consensus statement confirming when there is a low-to-zero possibility of a person living with HIV transmitting the virus in various situations. The statement was developed out of a concern that…

(Press release from One Iowa.  Further detailed analysis will be available soon) DES MOINES–After a series of negotiations, a historic bill passed through the Iowa House early this morning that will modernize Iowa’s discriminatory HIV law. Iowa’s current law, 709c,…

Earlier this month, Donald Bogardus, 42, was given the lightest-ever sentence for HIV non-disclosure in Iowa.  He had faced up to 25 years in prison but was given a suspended sentence with two to five years of probation. However, he…

The ongoing case of Rosemary Namubiru, the Ugandan nurse accused of exposing a child to HIV during the course of administering an injection, is highlighted in a powerful press release issued yesterday by AIDS Free World.  Fortunately, Ms Namubiru is…

A new publication from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), written by Veronica Oakeshott, is an excellent new resource to help inform advocacy efforts to remove punitive laws and policies that impede the HIV response. Aimed…

A newly published report suggests a number of concrete ways that research into the impact of overly broad HIV criminalisation on public health can move the policy agenda forward, and help reform laws and create better policies for people living…

On December 19th, the United States Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (fiscal year 2014) which, according to a press release from the Sero Project, “is a significant first step toward reforming the military’s HIV-related policies, and is the…